


Dame Des Himmels - A Tale of Skyships, Monsters, Mechanical Legs and Romance.

by leviiackermanns



Series: Dame Des Himmels & The Side Stories. [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 104th Trainee Squad as Eren's Crew, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, American Levi, Eren Yeager Has Heterochromia Iridum, Future Fic, German Eren Yeager, Jean Kirstein & Eren Yeager Friendship, Levi Also Has Heterochromia Iridum, M/M, Mechanical Engineer Levi, No Sex, Older Eren Yeager, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Hatred, Sky Captain Eren Yaeger, Titan-Haired Eren Yeager, Younger Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-03 01:30:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4081345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviiackermanns/pseuds/leviiackermanns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tale that involves skyships, a broken mechanical leg, monsters, dark thoughts, boys in love and dragons.</p><p>(Alternatively titled: that one steampunk!au that no one knows they really wanted until I crashed in)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What Do You Find When You Enter The Supply Room Of An Airship?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first SNK fic, I wrote this fic a while ago for another fandom and I wanted to pick it back up, but I'm not really in that old fandom anymore.
> 
> This is 100% steampunk!au trash and I regret everything
> 
> Inspiration and beta'ing by Dear_Monday.

Eren loved the skies; it gave him a sense of freedom he couldn’t get when he was land bound. On land he felt heavy, like his limbs were made out of solid metal, his left leg _was_ made of copper, admittedly, but that wasn’t very heavy in itself, even then he’d still have that leg if it was for the pirates.

The place Eren loved the most though was the deck; this is where he felt the most free. The sounds of the ship, the coolness of the air, and the sight of the skies. Though there were places on the ship that he did not like, that no one liked, if he was being honest. Down below the decks, there was a small room next to the engine room, it was a room that kept most of the clothing supplies and extra fabrics in case there was a shipmate in need of them.  From this room is where almost inhuman noises emanated from, low whines and grunts, sometimes even cries, (though not for help, no one knew what they meant),  could be heard from the other side of the door, no one entered this room, his crew were too afraid to, and if Eren was being honest, he was too.  There was a lot of speculation as to what the noises were, some said that there was an Angel aboard, injured and crying for help, though Eren knew better, he’d met Angels before, they became vicious creatures after they were made land bound by the Goddesses. Others said there were ghost aboard, ghosts of old shipmates that died here, this airship was very old, granted, however, Eren knew that their souls had passed on and had not lingered on this old ship. There was, however, a small selection of people that were convinced that Eren was keeping a criminal on board, hiding whoever it was from the sky’s version of the navy: The Military Police. They thought Eren was taking the criminal from the Americas to stow him away in another country. This theory made Eren roll his eyes the most, some of his crew really were idiots.

Luckily for Eren, he’d spent most of his life on the Dame Des Himmels and therefore knew how to fix the engines if they ever decided to malfunction, since his engineer had decided that the noises were too much and threw himself overboard. Eren had never needed a reason to visit the room that held the spare clothing and fabrics, he almost always kept himself well presented, he was a Jaeger after all. The Jaeger family had made a few discoveries in their life time, most of them being adventurers, with maybe the exception of his late father, who became an infamous doctor.  So yes, Eren was keeping his clothes in better shape than normal, just so he didn’t have to visit _that room._

It was 4 days later when Eren found himself in need of this room. It all stared out well as they docked at a sky port somewhere above Brazil; they needed to stop for fresh supplies for the kitchens and more fuel.  Sky ports usually had small market places for the peoples of the skies, selling plenty of food, water, fuel and alcohol. It was here where his crew-mate and sister Mikasa spotted them; the pirates that took Eren's leg. The fight that ensued had left one dead pirate, lots of ripped and bloodstained clothing and banishment from the Brazilian ports for two lifetimes.  Eren wasn’t unhappy about this though, he also wanted revenge for what happened, though he would have happier if Mikasa just took an equally important limb from the men, sky pirates were never the richest of people, it would have meant that they would have to take leave and live on land as they could barely afford the prices for mechanical limbs, Hell, Erens own crew had to chip in together to get him the leg he had now, which was slightly useless and a lot painful. The fight however is why Eren now found himself outside the door the supply room, taking in a deep shaky breath, fearful of what lay behind the door. _Come on Jaeger,_ he told himself _, you can do this, you are the Captain of a world famous ship, you are that fearless, temperamental Captain that everyone talks about!_ Taking another deep breath and holding it, Eren opened the door.

Upon entering the room the sounds grew louder and more like feral growling, it unnerved him, to say the least. Light poured in from a small window near the ceiling, at first he couldn’t even see where the sound was coming from, it was when he saw some movement in the corner of the room he noticed the small figure. The figure was cowering in the corner, growling slightly, facing away from Eren. He suspected that this person was a man, though he could barely be called a man, he looked so young and small.

“Hey,” he called out softly, “Are you okay?” He moved closer the smaller male. The growing grew louder and more inhumane. It worried him, the figure looked human; there was no whirring of gears from the automaton servants that the land bound rich snobs used. Then again why would an automaton servant be on his skyship? There were no feathers or signs of the broken wings of the cast out Angels. No this young male was wearing a sharp black suit, what appeared to be a light grey or white shirt, cravat and gloves, a set of extremely strange goggles were perched on his head.

“Hey!” Eren tried again, with more force. “What are you doing on my ship?”

The smaller man moved then, turning to face Eren with wild wide eyes and a sneer. Eren gasped, he recognised this man, from the newspapers he looked at when he was on land. This young male is Levi Ackerman, heir to the Ackerman fortunes, certified genius, and engineer to some of the most expensive yet incredible mechanical limbs, pets and little creatures of old.

“Mr. Ackerman!” He exclaimed, “What are you doing here? There are people looking all over for you!”

This was true, roughly three years ago Levi Ackerman disappeared, and there was no trace of him. Mikasa had been questioned at the time, as she was a distant relation of his. She had told them she didn’t even really know who he was never mind where he was. It was said that Levi had hurt someone and was on the run, but there was plenty of rumours floating about and some said that he was a murderer, others though said that he couldn’t hack being a famous engineer and broke under the pressure of the demand people lay on him. Though it wasn’t a secret that the young man was slightly mad and stressed, he was only eighteen years old after all.

Eren leaned closer to the younger male. “Uh, Mr. Ackerman?” It was then that Levi let out a shrill wailing sound; it startled Eren so bad that he fell over. The wailing alerted his crew. Eren could hear his crew racing down the stairs to see just what was going on.

The next couple of hours found Eren losing a few members of his crew, them stating their leave as soon as the ship was docked in the next city port. Not that Eren was particularly bothered, there was only a small selection of people that he was close to on this ship, and they were his best workers. Most other workers on his ship helped the 104th crew with maintenance or they were tasked with cleaning the deck or windows.

It took yet another hour to persuade Levi (see: dragged kicking and screaming) to come out of the supply room. So here Eren was, with Levi Ackerman, in his quarters, covered in a blanket and fed. He still wasn’t talking, much to Eren's dismay; he only made occasional noises to even let people know that he was paying attention to what went on around him. Levi continued to look around the room from his perch on an old worn chair, he looked mildly curious at all the objects around Eren's quarters, though there wasn’t much in this old room that was originally his, most of the belongings belonged to his grandparents, who had sailed this ship before him. (His father went to land to be a doctor, he’d met Eren's mother on land, his grandparents were disappointed in the life she led, but as long as it had made her happy, they were happy.) These quarters were not as nice as his Oma once kept them; the painted surfaces of the walls and furniture were chipping, paper cracked and peeling at the edges of the walls. He didn’t really have the heart to redecorate, or the time to keep up the maintenance of his belongings.

It was when watching Levi that he heard it; the foul metallic screeching of the Yellow Birds. These massive mechanical canary like birds were made by sky pirates, engineered to do one thing, destroy airships with potential bounty. This wasn’t good, they were too high up to survive a crash, he just hoped that the maintenance crew were well equipped enough to handle any tears that the Yellow Birds created. Eren grabbed his gloves and goggles putting them on and running out to the deck. There were always smaller mechanical birds that accompanied the Yellow Birds called Dove Tails. These birds were designed to attack the crews of the ships, rendering them unable to fend off the pirates that boarded. These birds were smaller, about the size of a crow, and everyone’s worst nightmare. One of the Dove Tails spotted Eren on the deck and dived straight for him, metal talons extending and screeching out a hideous mechanical wail. Leaping out the way, Eren heard another, more worrying metallic squeal as his left leg gave out under him, tugging on the bolts that attached to his leg. Searing pain shot up his leg to his hip, the last thought that passed through Eren as he fell unconscious was that he hoped that his crew were able to take care of their current problem without him.

When Eren woke up he came upon two realizations; one was that they were still in the skies, which relived him to know end and two that he was laying on his bed. His head and leg both hurt. Eren opened his eyes; the room was mostly dark except for the dark light coming from his desk in the corner of the room. Eren sat up and scanned the floor for his leg, not seeing it anywhere in sight, he frowned.

“It’s okay; I’m fixing your leg. You blew the mechanics during the attack.” Said a deep, unfamiliar voice from the corner of the room. Eren nearly shrieked, he hadn’t noticed anyone, it was so quite. He did, however, gasp. Eren turned to see Levi holding up one of the lenses of those strange goggles that he had had on top of his head earlier. Levi looked faintly amused, “I apologize for startling you.” He smirked. “I will admit, however, that whomever you bought this off of was a terrible engineer. Have you had a lot of bother with it? In fact where did you even get this terrible contraption? It looks like it should be in a mechanical history museum.”

 “Uh…” Eren, quite frankly, had no idea what to say. A few hours, or even a day earlier, Eren didn’t know, this man could only make sounds like he was a dying animal. Now he was speaking properly with the polite manners of the rich upper-class land dwellers. Levi pulled off the strange goggles, which really did have an alarming amount of smaller lenses attached and raised one of his thin eyebrows at Eren, waiting for a more eloquent response than ‘uh’. Eren shook his head, and then pushed his hair pack out of his eyes, in an attempt to pull himself together, “uh, I don’t really remember, it was years ago when I got it. It hasn’t had a huge amount of mechanical issues per se, not anything Armin, our on board engineer couldn’t fix. Though it is extremely uncomfortable to wear.”

Levi sat the goggles on the desk and frowned. “Uncomfortable how? Is it the bolts? Or is the leg itself too tight for you?” it seemed that all traces of the man that was found in the supply room was gone. Was it the fact that he was now doing something familiar that he felt more normal? “May I have a look at the bolts?”

Eren sighed, “Of course.” Eren was not a shy man by any standards, but he still felt uncomfortable whenever anyone looked at the stump that used to be most of his leg. He was only seventeen when the attack happened, only a year being a Captain of Dame Des Himmels, the pirates attempted to capture the ship that he spent eight years of his life learning. Levi moved across the room towards Eren slowly. He pulled back the blanket that covered him, just enough the reveal his left stump, which, in reality, was half a thigh. Levi kneeled down beside the bed and examined the bolts that held the copper leg in place. He ran his fingers over the bolts, testing them, loosening and tightening them and frowning. Eren grit his teeth, it was more than a little painful.

“I think,” Levis frown deepened. “I think we ought to be land bound as soon as possible. I can only make this historical piece of shit suitable for a little while. About your bolts though, they’re in the wrong places, they’re going to keep giving you trouble if you don’t get it sorted. I also want to build you a new leg.” Levi walked back to the desk, picked up the leg and brought it over to Eren. “This hunk of junk wouldn’t even do as scraps.” He muttered.

“Oh, thank you.” Eren smiled as he attached his leg, he hissed in pain as he screwed the bolts tight. “I’ll let the crew know that we need to set a course for The Americas”


	2. Soup, Small Engineers and Romance Novels.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange Doctors, Eren has surgery and Levi makes Eren's new leg!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters in 2 days?! Yikes! Don't expect this too often though, I just really don't like this chapter because it was hard to write! I should be posting chapters on a weekly basis, so probably every friday or satuarday.  
> This is in both Eren and Levi's POVs so enjoy that.

As soon as they docked in the Americas Levi had dragged Eren to an unkempt looking mansion that was, according to Levi, the residence of Doctor Hanji Zoe. Doctor Zoe was apparently one of the best for amputee patients.

Upon meeting the Doctor, Eren became mildly concerned for his own safety. The mad doctor squealed when Levi brought Eren to them. Though when Hanji examined Eren’s leg they immediately started a long rant about idiotic doctors not knowing how to properly attach scaffolding and bolts. Levi just sat there impassively sipping a cup of tea. When Eren had noticed his odd way of holding the cup Levi simply explained that it felt more comfortable. Hanji, after being calmed by her assistant, (a nice, but timid man named Moblit), they went on to explain the procedure to Eren. They told him that it would take months to heal, and that we was to come to regular check-ups to check his progress and that he wasn’t allowed to walk until he was completely healed. Levi mentioned it would take him a while to make the new leg anyway. Eren wasn’t happy about being land bound for months on end. Eren had to tell his crew to travel on without him for a while, telling them to go to China to find tea and herbs that they could sell later on.

LEVI POV                                                                                                                                                                                     

Working on mechanical limbs was one of Levis favourite jobs, he loved the idea of giving people some of their freedom back, especially to those who’d lost legs, he wasn’t yet able to make a working mechanical heart, no matter how hard he tried. While Levi worked away, he thought about Captain Eren. He kind of owed it to the man, hiding away on his ship, then being caught, fed, and the Captain and his crew were unnecessarily nice to Levi, so yes, Levi owed him. Levi not only thought that Captain Eren was a nice man, but he was an incredibly attractive man, his large different coloured eyes, one ocean green and the other honey gold, held him captive and made his heart beat a little faster in his chest.

The people and the Captain of that airship were some of the best people he knew, they worked hard for the little money they earned. They’d given him a bed and some clothes and food. Thought there were some crew members that didn’t like him, they feared him, they’d bolted as soon as the ship was docked, not even waiting around long enough to be paid. Levi guessed it’s because they thought that he was a criminal of sorts, with his apathetic expression and rude demeanour, he’d dropped any pretence of niceties around these people as they were rude to him also.

Then again, Levi Ackerman wasn’t the nicest of people.

No one knew of the urges that he had to continuously try and supress, working make him forget how he was raised. He’d slipped once, he’d just snapped. Levi had made a mechanical cat for a man who’d wanted to get one for his daughter as a birthday present, within a month the man was back, the cat broken, demanding he fix it while the slick black oil that made the cat run smoothly dripped onto his new pure white alpaca skin rug.

Levi hadn’t meant to hurt the man, no he really didn’t.

_He was just so angry._

So empty.

Levi supposed it was a long time coming, growing up the way he did.

(He really could not help it.)

Though the people had found out, everyone knew where the missing man went. Everyone knew what he did. The people sold his creations for scraps.

(That hurt him, which hurt him a lot)

They went elsewhere. They shunned him. They wanted to hurt him.

So he ran.

He ran away, he needed to get away, go somewhere where no one knew him, no one knew his past, his crimes, his name.

He’d found a ship and hid there, waiting till it was on a new land and he’d sneak away, never to be seen again. Yet as his mind and body grew weaker the found he could leave the ship, not until he’d been found, that is.

It only took a few hours before Eren came out of surgery, his new bolts in the correct places. Hanji, fortunately, had managed to buy his house before it was sold off or knocked down. So they brought Eren to his house and Levi told them to put him in the master bedroom. He thanked Hanji and Moblit as they left and went to the kitchen to make Eren some thick vegetable soup for hen he woke up. Levi peeked in on the Captain as he slept, making sure he was okay and still sleeping.

 

EREN POV

The first thing notices when he wakes up is how comfortable he is, even though his leg is throbbing, the next thing he notices is how clean everything smells, like fabric softner and fresh air. Eren opened his eyes and sat up, it was a struggle, but he did it, he takes in the room. The walls are made up of a dark wood, the sheets are red and silky as are the curtains that are half open letting in soft afternoon light. The room was really beautiful. There was a large arm chair in the corner turned towards a bookshelf that contained, Eren squinted, romance novels? This room must be the room of Levi and a lover or wife. The papers had never mentioned Levi's love life. It made Eren somewhat uncomfortable to know that he was in the marital bed; they should have put him in a guest room! Eren didn’t like this at all, he already thought he was taking the young engineer for granted; getting a new leg and an operation to fix his bolts for free. A knock on the door startles Eren out of his worries.

“Captain? Are you awake yet?” The younger man asks quietly.

“Y-yes, I’m awake, you can come in Levi.” The Captain stuttered. Eren sighed, _well done, Eren._

Levi opens a door and walks in with a tray in his hands, Eren took a minute to actually look at the other man, it was apparent that the younger had put some weight when he was on the ship, helping out, his forearms looked powerful, of what he could see peeking out of his rolled up shirt sleeves, the man was still small, yet he looked strong. His shoulder length black hair was pushed out of his handsome face _. Wait. Handsome?_ Eren thought, _since when did I think of men being attractive?_ Just as Eren was about to get himself worked up about these new thoughts, Levi spoke, “I brought you some soup, bread and tea. I hope you like it.” The smaller male had what appeared to be a ghost of a smile on his usually expressionless face as he sat the tray on its stands over Eren’s lap.

“Thank you, Levi, this is very kind of you.” Eren saying, lifting the cup of tea to take a sip.

Levi pulls a wooden desk chair over to the bed and takes a seat. “Its my pleasure, Captain.” he shrugs, nonchalantly.

Eren sighs, “You really should have put me in a guest room, Levi.” At this the younger frowns. “What will your wife say if she sees me?”

Levi looks perplexed for a second, “My wife?” He snorts then shakes his head, “I do not have a wife, Captain.”

Eren looks back towards the book shelf then to Levi. It dawns on Eren that the books are _Levi's_ , he almost laughs, but doesn’t. He isn’t used to many men reading never mind reading _romance novels_. “I’m sorry; I just assumed that the books were a females.”

Levi just shrugged. “I enjoy them from time to time, there is no harm in that is there?” he says. Levi gets up and walks to the door and bows a little. “Enjoy your soup.” And with that, he leaves the room, closing the door softly behind him. Eren sighs again. _By the three Goddesses, that kids adorable_ , he thinks. Fuck, he’s screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i want to apologise, my writing seems rushed, i cant help it tbh.  
> Also please let me know what you guys think, i literally have little confidence in my writing and getting feed back makes me really happy, so leave kudos or comments or sent me questions @ leviiackermanns.tumblr.com


	3. Landing in Australia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'd like to apologize for making Australia a prison, but its a Victorian-era future fusion.   
> I'd like to thank [Dear_Monday](http://archiveofourown.org/users/dear_monday/pseuds/dear_monday) beta'ing and putting up with this fic  
> I'm sorry its really rushed but good stuff is coming i promise!

Weeks went past with Eren showing Levi most of the discoveries made in the skies and on land as well, when they actually docked on land that was. Eren showed Levi the broken tower that was situated in what was once Paris, the ruins of Rome, the ancient gears and mechanics the civilisations of old. Every morning at breakfast Levi asked Eren what they would be doing that day. At a glance the younger man’s face looked impassive, but Eren could tell that he was enthusiastic by the tilt of his thin eyebrows, the glint in this blue grey eyes and the higher pitch of his smooth voice during the questioning.

As they approached Australia Levi finally asked where it was they were actually going, Eren hadn’t told him before. So Eren proceeded to tell him that they were headed to Australia, Levi went quiet at this, for the rest of the day and the following days leading up to arriving at the Australian ports, he closed himself in the engine rooms with the excuse he wanted to make sure that the engines were in perfect working order for docking.

The day of arriving at the Australian docks Levi approached Eren with anger in those pale bi-coloured eyes. “I trusted you, Captain Jaeger, I don’t know why, _but I trusted you!_ ” he fumed, “You bullshitted me so you can bring me to the prison lands yourself. That’s right isn’t it, you wanted to collect the bounty on me yourself so that’s why you brought me here, I’m right, aren’t I?”

Eren was confused; he wasn’t sure what Levi was talking about. It only took a minute to get it though, Australia, the land that was once a prison was now once more a prison. “Rest assured, Levi that is not my intention, to collect a bounty on you.” Eren closed his eyes and sighed, “Levi, trust me when I say that most of this crew should be in those prisons, but we’re not”

Levi scowled at Eren, “Whatever, you can’t pull the wool over my eyes, Captain, I’ll take my leave when we dock and you’ll never see me again.” With that Levi spun on his heel and walked out the door, leaving behind a very confused, very upset airship Captain.

_Just why does Levi think I’m going to turn him in to the authorities?_ He asks himself. He doesn’t know how but he wants to get to the bottom of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Sorry its so short, its a filler chapter D:


	4. Of Fat Birds and Voices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and crew make a disappointing discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea of Fat Birds from here [(x)](http://leviiackermanns.tumblr.com/post/120730419710/fangirl-tsvetock-coelasquid-gentlemanbones-we) me and my friend Bex were talking about dinosaurs when she found the post. It pretty much inspired this entire chapter.  
> Thanks again to my beta for helping me through this, ahhh, she's great!  
> Theres a bit of Eren and Jean's friendship in this too.  
> I use the tag ddh: steampunk au on tumblr.  
> Enjoy!

LEVI POV

As soon as the ship was docking, Levi bolted. He ran and ran and ran. He couldn’t believe it. Captain Jaeger _betrayed him;_ he had broken Levi’s trust. Of course the Captain knew. The Captain had a weird way of just knowing things. Though part of Levi knew that this was just because the Captain travelled the world. Levi continued to run. Had to get away, leave that ship. He tried to run from everything. Yet there were somethings that still stayed no matter how hard he ran.

( _He betrayed you! He’s the same as them! He betrayed you, betrayed you, betrayed you!_ )

The garbled voices kept taunting until he could run no longer, they laughed and laughed. Levi sank to his knees and screamed. How did he know? The one thing that was starting to go right in his life was throwing him away just like everyone else did. He could take it. He didn’t mean to hurt that man, he really didn’t, ( _but you did mean to, Levi, you did. It’s in your nature after all_ ). Levi curled into himself, he wasn’t like that, he didn’t want to hurt anyone, this wasn’t what he wanted. Yet, the voices, they say differently.

( _You do, you do, you do, this is your life, we are you Levi, we know what you want, we know what you need. Take it, no one will stop you. Do it, do it, do it!_ )

Levi opened his eyes and grinned. He is going to be killed for his crimes anyway. He might as well go out with a bang.

EREN POV

“ _JEAN_ ,” Jean flinched as Eren’s voice rang out across the deck. “What the fuck, man? You were supposed to be watching Levi, _what in all the holy fucks were you doing?_ ”

Jean rubbed the back of his head, “Aha, well you see Cap, he slipped me. I don’t even know how he managed it! One second he was there, then the next thing I know he’s gone!” Jean shrugged, “and anyway it’s not like he won’t stand out against the crowds here, he’s paler than that time Armin saw that ghost. Don’t worry Cap, we’ll find him.”

Eren sighs, he supposed it was true, even with his small stature, Levi would stand out. Almost everyone in this part of Australia was some level of tan. “Alright, but we also can diverge from the mission here. We still need to discover something that can actually bring in some sort of money.” Eren rubbed his temples; he could feel a headache coming on. “Has Armin got everything together? Do we have our supplies in order? I swear if Sasha has eaten them again I’m banishing her to Level Island in order for her to think over what she’s done”

Jean just stares at Eren incredulously. “Eren, how the fuck should I know? You are an actual dragon wagon at times you know that?” Eren scowled at Jean. “I’ve been down here for the past day watching your lover boy do goddesses knows what, how am I supposed to know what’s going on above board?”

Eren sighs again, “alright, Jean, sorry, but seriously we need to get our shit together. This disc

*

“They just look like really fat birds…” Jean murmured. Eren thought he heard Connie snicker in the back ground. Eren rolled his eyes. “Like really fat birds” Jean squinted to get a closer look at the fat birds, “with scales? That’s gross, those birds are gross. Eren we are not the ones to discover these things, I don’t want my name next to this”

Eren rolled his eyes again.

“I agree with Jean on one part,” Mikasa started, she looked at Eren. “Those really are fat birds. But! We haven’t made really any discoveries that are even worth mentioning. This could be a great discovery!”

Armin sighed. “I don’t know. Honestly I don’t see these things being the tiniest bit useful. I don’t even think they can fly.”

“Maybe we can eat them!” A voiced piped up from behind them. Everyone turned and glared at Sasha. “What?! It was just a suggestion!”

Everyone turned back to face the birds, they were like grotesque lizard birds that probably stood about seven or eight feet tall. Eren sighed, it really wasn’t the discovery they really wanted to make, but it had to do. There was no denying that this wasn’t at least a little disappointing.

“Alright.” He said, silencing his crew. “We need to get word to the Commander. I don’t think Erwin will be that happy about this discovery either, so I doubt he’ll send Mike out. So he might send Nanaba, we gotta hunker down on land for a bit.” There was a collective groan, Eren sighed again. “Hopefully we’ll at least get something out of this. We can begin searching for something new in the morning. Let’s head back.”

*

Eren and his crew headed back to the rickety inn that they decided would good enough shelter for the night, it was damp, and Eren was pretty sure that the patterns on the wall weren’t actually patterns at all, but mould. He feared for his lungs a little.

Eren lay on his back on the bed that probably had fluids that he really didn’t want to think about, he stared at the ceiling. Where did Levi go? Why was he in such a rush to get away? More importantly why did he think that Eren was going to turn him in? It wasn’t like there was anyone that was really innocent of a crime on this ship. He knew that four of his crew, himself included, had killed someone. Hell that was practically part of the job description; you can’t hesitate, if a pirate is going to kill you, they’re going to kill you. Its kill or be killed. Eren was worried about Levi; something told him that Levi had been dealt a bad hand. Eren frowned up at the ceiling, he genuinely liked Levi.

He really hoped that Levi would return before they had to leave. Eren didn’t want to pry into the kid’s life, but something made the kid into a mess, into the mess that he found him in that day in the supply room.

*

It turned out that Nanaba was not that far away, so instead of waiting weeks, like Eren had anticipated, it was only a matter of days before Nanaba turned up at the more than questionable inn. Eren, Armin and Jean took her to the location to which they found the fat birds. Nanaba and her team approached and examined the birds. At least they were friendly enough.

Jean vehemently refused to be known as the founder of what Nanaba called _Tyrannosaurus Aves_. Though Jean had found the birds in the first place. Eren said he would, though he really didn’t want the credit of those grotesque birds either.

Throughout the remainder of their stay Eren remained worried, Levi wasn’t returning. His crew were worried too, Levi had been a great help on board.

On the day they were leaving Eren remained anxious, where was Levi? They actually needed the young engineer. Armin wasn’t that great with the workings of the engines and propellers. They had their own team of zeppelin workers, Eren himself had to make sure that the machinery was in working order before the ship was deemed safe enough to fly.

As they took off, Mikasa steering the ship up and away from the docks, (she was always better at this than Eren was), Eren kept a watchful eye over the edge of the ship. He didn’t want to leave Levi behind, Eren rubbed his face in frustration, he really didn’t want to leave Levi behind, but he had to.

As Australia got smaller the further Eren only thought one thing. _Be safe, Levi_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically this chapter kinda sucks but we're getting more of an insight into Levi  
> I would also like to mention that the other 2 drabble short story fics in this series are super important to one of the characters so go check them out!  
> Remember to leave kudos and comments bc it really helps me out  
> [My Tumblr.](http://leviiackermanns.tumblr.com)


	5. The Complicated Guardianship.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren tries to chat to Hanji, and the crew head to China.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 yo!  
> [Check out my genderfluid!levi fics as well!.](http://archiveofourown.org/series/272124)  
> Enjoy!

**_3 months later._ **

“Oi, dragon wagon, get up! We’re here” Jean’s voice filtered through the door along with rhythmic banging. “I swear to the Goddesses Eren if you’re not up within the next five seconds I’m sending Mikasa in there!”

Eren shot up. “Fuck, okay, I’m getting up. It’s not that easy with one leg, arsehole.” He growled. Eren looked up to see Jean entering his quarters. “I said I’m getting up, Jean, there’s no need to come in.”

Jean rolled his eyes. “I’m going to help you, idiot. Anyway, we will actually be docking in the next couple of seconds, Armin said he’s checking the engines, but he kept wringing his fingers, I’m pretty sure he wants your short genius boyfriend back.”

Eren scowled, “he’s not my boyfriend.” He sighed, “Just get me my clothes then leave me, Pegasus, I can do this on my own.”

Jean went over to the dresser to fetch Eren’s clothing. “Oh, and that Doctor you mentioned, the one with the brown hair and glasses? Yeah they’re totally waiting on the docks for you.” He said while handing Eren’s clothes over. “Why do you need this doctor anyway? I thought your leg was fine now?”

Eren twiddled the fabric of his shirt between his fingers. “I need to know what Hanji knows about Levi to make him run off the way he did. Levi mentioned that he lived with Hanji while getting his engineering degree at some college, which, apparently, he completed at sixteen or something. I honestly just want to know why he freaked when I said where we were going. I mean it’s not like any of us haven’t committed a crime, you know?”

Jean laughed, “No, we aren’t guilty of anything!” With that Jean left Eren to get dressed. Eren could hear him cackling as he went to help with the ships docking.

*

“EREN! MY SWEET!” This was all the warning Eren received before Hanji catapulted themselves onto Eren. They squeezed him tight before holding him at arm’s length. “Oh look at you! You look great! How’s the leg holding up?” Hanji snorted at their own joke.

Eren rolled his eyes, he felt like he was doing that a lot lately. “I haven’t changed Hanji. And as I can see, neither have you. Now how about you take me to tea since I haven’t had any since I left the arid wastelands of Australia?”

“Ah, of course, of course. I presume you want to tell your crew where you’re off too?”

Eren looked back at Mikasa, who caught his eye and nodded once. Mikasa nodded in return. “Done, shall we go?”

Hanji laughed softly. “Of course.”

On the way to the café Hanji spoke of the work they performed and how that since Levi went out of business, recommending engineers for mechanical limbs had been much more difficult. They told Eren that they would just refer the patient straight to Levi since all their patients were rich they could afford Levi’s prices. Hanji asked about the discovery that he, Jean, made while in Australia. Eren told them a little about it and how he wasn’t even the one that spotted them first. Hanji laughed at Jean’s refusal to have anything to do with the Fat Birds.

Once they arrived at the café they ordered their tea and sat at the back where no one could over hear them.

“So, Eren!” Hanji said after taking a sip of tea. “What is it that you want to know about my Shortcake?”

Eren rubbed at his eyes. “Anything that would at least give me a clue as to why Levi would freak out that we were going to Australia! He said that I was taking him there in order to collect a bounty on him.” Eren sighed then took a mouthful of tea. “He just jumped ship as soon as we were docking, which is highly dangerous by the way, and took off. We couldn’t find him anywhere.”

Hanji smiled sadly. “It’s not really my story to tell Eren. I’m sure Levi will turn up some day; he never really leaves behind people he likes. No matter how many times he ran away from me, he always came back.” Hanji looked at Eren then sighed. “Levi has had a tough life. His family weren’t the nicest of people. He was the survivor of a massacre, I believe, I found him when he was fourteen, I was twenty at the time. I took him in, but he always seemed distant. He was seventeen before he trusted me with the full story. Trust me, he’ll find you again and you will get the whole story, but for now, you’ll just have to wait. I’m sorry.”

Eren sighed again. “Don’t be sorry, it’s just, I want Levi to be safe and happy. He seemed happy on the ship. He really did.” He shrugged.

“All I’m going to say Eren is this; Levi’s story, it really isn’t the best. His family were animals; he told me every detail that he remembered. Though I freaked out, it took me a while to fully trust him after that. I love that kid, but shit, he has problems.” Hanji frowned, contemplating what to say next. Hanji laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Eren. Everything will be okay in the end!”

“I really hope so, Hanji.”

They laughed again, pulling out an old watch. “Ah, shit!” they exclaimed. “I have to apologise Eren, I have to rush off, my dear Moblit is holding down the fort for me and I have an appointment soon.”

“Ah, no worries. I’m glad that you could come out at all.” Eren and Hanji stood. “Thank you for doing this though, even though I didn’t get much.” Eren laughed.

Hanji smiled. “You’re welcome, sunshine!” They hugged Eren. “Don’t be a stranger, okay? You know where to find me!”

Eren laughed again as Hanji walked to the door, “Don’t forget to send me a letter when you find my short baby! Also if you are reunited tell him I’m mad at him for disappearing.”

“Right!” Eren replied as they walked out the café. He huffed out a breath as he sat down.

As Eren thought about it, the more confused he got. Was there anything that was worse than murder? Of course there was, there was three crimes worse than murder. It confused him; surely Levi didn’t so anything _that terrible._ No, he couldn’t have.

Eren rubbed at this face, what could Levi have done to make Hanji not trust him?

*

Later, back on the ship, as it sailed across the Americas to the western states Eren decided to discuss the matter with his longest running best friend and sister.

“I just don’t understand!” Eren sat on his bed. “I understand what Hanji said yes, but, fuck! Why does this have to be confusing?”

Armin rolled his eyes. “Why are you even bothered? I mean sure, Levi was nice enough. Hell he got you surgery, a new leg and worked on the ship for free. He’s a nice guy! I’ll admit that, but what Hanji said was true, you’ve got to give this time.”

Eren threw his hands up in frustration. “They said the kid had been dealt a bad hand. I’ve even noticed this with the way he acted sometimes, but it doesn’t really give me any comfort. I like him Armin, like you said he’s nice, and the goddesses know I fucking owe him. Even though he said I don’t, but I do, I just wanted him to have a better life you know? A life where he didn’t have to run and hide all the time.”

Armin then turned to Mikasa. “What do you know about the Ackerman side of your family?”

“Not anything really, I knew they were rich. I only met Kuchel twice, she seemed really nice when I met her, but I was just a child. Kenny, her brother, on the other hand was really weird. He kept smirking like everything was funny to him, like he was hiding something.” Mikasa shrugged. “Honestly I only met Levi once. He wouldn’t even remember it since he was only a few months old at the time. Dad didn’t really like that part of the family, Kuchel and Kenny were his cousins, but his uncle, their father, was apparently a really wicked man, brutal.” Mikasa pulled her scarf up around her face. “I once heard dad tell mama that his uncle beat a man half to death with his cane just because he got a splash of paint on him.”

“Charming man” Armin said frowning.

Eren flopped back onto the bed rubbing his face with his hands. “This is so fucking frustrating!” He growled.

 

LEVI POV

 

All Levi had to do was work, that was it, the voices stayed silent when he worked. He decided it was time that he made something for the people that worked on the Skyships; if a propeller broke in mid-air there was no way to fix it. So Levi set about designing manoeuvring gear that would help engineers work on the outside of the ship. It wouldn’t be the safest job in the world, but Levi had to do his best. Captain Jaeger said there was a great risk of pirates breaking the propellers of ships if they didn’t own Yellow Birds, which tore at the fabric of the zeppelins carrying the ship.

Levi pretty much knew how this device was going to work, harnesses, hooks, wires, etc. but while he knew how to lower a person over the edge of the ship, getting them back up and over without extensive muscle training would be a problem.

It was in a small factory town near the shores of Australia where Levi discovers just the thing he needed to compete his device. It was massive, granted, but one a smaller, (much, much smaller), scale this thing would do the trick. After speaking to the manager of the factory, Levi discovered it was nothing more than some fans and gas that made the whole machine propel forward at such a speed. All Levi needed now was a place to work and equipment.

As Levi looked out over the seas he realised one thing. He needed to find Captain Jaeger. He would be able to help Levi with all he needed. It had previously taken Levi a while to calm down, he eventually realised that Captain Jaeger and his crew were probably all criminals to, with what the Captain had said. He really needed to find that airship, and fast.

_Shit,_ he thinks, _where do I even begin to look for an airship?_

 

EREN POV

 

“NORTHERN CHINA?! EREN ARE YOU CRAZY? ARE YOU TAKING OPIATES AGAIN? YOU KNOW I DON’T LIKE NORTHERN CHINA!”

“Contain your yodelling Hippocampus, there’s a fuckin’ reason as to why Northern China. Just because you have a deeply psychologically rooted wig outs at all things dead and moving doesn’t mean there isn’t money to be made in Northern China, or did you conveniently forget about _The Dragon Temples._ ”

Jean shot Eren a withering look. “Look you one legged waste of oxygen, I do not _‘wig out’,_ as you so endearingly put it, at ‘all things dead and moving’. The undead genuinely freak me out.”

Armin on the other hand laughed. “Okay, so we’re going to The Dragon Temples? What for? I thought all the remains of the ancient dragons were taken out of there?”

“Well, to be honest, right now, we’re looking for anything left behind. We need to at least see if we can find something, Annie, Berthold and Reiner aren’t happy about what I pay them, and I’m not either. They work in the zeppelin, that’s dangerous shit, so yeah, we’re going.”

With that Eren and his crew started drawing up plans for going to China.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have another 5 chapters of this planned out for this, I just need to write them up, so the next upload will be either next friday or satuarday dependant on when its written.  
> [my tumblr.](http://leviiackermanns.tumblr.com/)


	6. Just a note!

So basically, I have like one paragraph of chapter 6 written, i know what its supposed to be about but as soon as i start typing again nothing comes out.

I don't know when I'll get it done but I am not ditching this fic again.

I have up to chapter 10 planned out.

I am so sorry to the people who like this. Just think of it as a small hiatus I will get out of this funk with this chapter I promise you that!

In the mean time, there are 2 other fics in this series that are super important and is about one of the characters in this fic.

you can also check out my genderfluid levi au. It's not great or probably an accurate portrayal of genderfluidity but I'm agender so what do I know.

Again I am so sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me at [My Tumblr](leviiackermanns.tumblr.com)where I complain a lot and stuff, also if you have any questions feel free to ask.


End file.
